BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition January 2019

LIVE
Photo by Zee Khan
Photo by Zee Khan
Photo by Zee Khan Photo by Zee Khan Photo by Zee Khan
BREAKOUT FEST W/ LIL UZI VERT, PLAYBOI
CARTI, KILLY, PRESSA, VALEE AND MORE
Pacific Coliseum
December 14, 2018
Three phenomenons in life are meant to be
experienced first hand: birth, death and Breakout
Festival. Breakout is Canada’s only bi-annual,
all hip-hop music festival (No EDM allowed!)
This winter, the festival was held at PNE’s Pacific
Coliseum and boasted Lil Uzi Vert as its headliner.
The stage was broken in by local Soundcloud
acts, including Yurmsauce, Rude Nala and AC,
though the butter-smooth delivery, dynamic stage
show and ardent crowd reception distinguished
Illyminiachi as the most promising Vancouver
artist in attendance.
Killumantii shook everyone out of their
Illyminiachi-induced daze with razor sharp bars
and here-to-fuck-shit-up attitude. G.O.O.D.
Music’s Valee graced the stage while enjoying
some of that legal. Last minute addition Pressa
was a last minute addition to the lineup, catching
a good chunk of the audience by surprise. The
Toronto rapper later came out to perform “420 in
London” alongside Uzi.
The moment Killy came on, the floodgates
were opened. Mosh pits started to bloom in the
crowd to the bone-rattling beat, commencing
survival of the fittest through natural selection.
He had the audience in the air with “Doomsday”
and “Distance,” and had everyone on the chorus of
“No Sad, No Bad”
On the subject of immediate danger, Carti’s set
was prefaced by a bright green nuclear warning.
The “Magnolia” rapper pounced onto the stage,
as masses swarmed to the floor of the coliseum,
and in pure Carti tradition, maintained that same
energy throughout the entire set.
Then Carti was gone, and music came to a halt.
Tension was reaching a crescendo, and the crowd
was becoming restless, as murmurs carried over
the pulsing lights.
“He’s not showing up.” “Wasn’t he banned from
Canada?” “Watch them send Killy on again.”
Skepticism was at an all time high, as everyone
seemed to debate “will he/won’t he”. Then all at
once, it stopped. Uzi was here. If it had not before,
all hell broke loose.
The moment he stepped on, the energy
exploded. The wait proved to be well worth it
with the thousands of voices on “Bad and Boujee”
and “XO Tour Llif3.”
Despite being the favourite punching bag
of any hip-hop purist, Lil Uzi Vert has peaked
in popularity, largely due to his nonconformist
approach to genre.
By breaking the pre-established framework
and repackaging rap, punk and emo to fit the
mainstream, Uzi single-handedly achieved mass
appeal and changed the rap game. This very
approach put the rapper at the vanguard of the
music world and made him the crowned prince
of the burgeoning punk rap movement, not
without raising a sea of eyebrows along the way.
Love it or hate it, Lil Uzi Vert’s innovative sound
and presence made him a celebrated lepper and a
quintessential artist of this generation. That much
was evident that night.
The vehemence of unattended youth is
manifested and contained within a 7-hour sensory
kaboom. Inhibition fades as communication
becomes purely kinetic everywhere you look.
Whether in bathrooms, where girls delicately
hold each other’s hair over toilet bowls; or in
pits, where bodies thrash till they bruise blue and
strangers kiss and grope with teeth flying above
their heads.
Anything can happen at Breakout.
• Maryam Azizli
40
January 2019